Vengeance Reaper
by Saito-Soul
Summary: A story that explains itself as it goes along.  Scattered tales of multiple lives tied with one that is eternal.  Brownie points if you can find the influence.
1. Chapter 1

-Prologue-

Sayu Kei, otherwise known as the Hell Child, was born in the year of 1667, living in a small village just off the westcoast of Japan. He grew up ordinarily, often being bullied, but also having enough friends to compensate. Despite this fact, he sought revenge against the people who had made his life miserable, and made his overall mood apathetic. Making a contract with the Devil, Kei's village was burned down, resulting in not only the Devil claiming the souls of the guilty, but also those of the innocent, including Kei's loved ones. Wandering through inferno, bloodstained, Kei happens upon a spider in the fire, who speaks to him. It tells him that the innocent were also taken to repay the Devil for his services, but they would still be able to go to heaven. All Kei had to do was die himself, eliminating the memory of the village, becoming a servant for the Devil, who would wander the Earth for all of time as a living ghost, carrying out the requests of other people who sought revenge, with the price of their soul going to Hell as well after they died later in their lives. It's been almost 350 years since that day... 

-Chapter One -- Contract-

"Hey! What are you doing after school, Keitaro?" A boy with long blonde hair in a white polo shirt and blue dress pants ran through the courtyard of a large highschool, his left hand holding the strap of his backpack that was slung over his shoulder. He seemed like a normal student; he was about 5' 9" in height, and seemed looked pretty healthy, being neither skinny nor fat. Along with his flowing blonde hair, he had vibrant green eyes. He approached a boy who had a few inches on him; he was about 5' 11", with perfectly untidy brown hair, wearing a bright navy blue longsleeve jacket, which was open, revealing a simple white t-shirt, accompanied by matching navy dress pants. The blonde boy put his hand on the other boy's shoulder - he didn't seem to have any kind of bag - and turned him around. At first glance, the other boy's eyes perfectly matched the blonde boy's, but after that instant, you could clearly see that the other boy's were a dark green. The boy was handsome - almost too handsome - with lightly tanned skin. "Keitaro, you heard me, right?"

"Yeah, I did, I was just waiting for you to approach me," Keitaro brushed his untidy hair back, not showing any sign of a smile, "and to answer your question, I have to do something in a little bit with my family," he frowned, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder briefly, "sorry, Okane."

"I see..that's too bad. I'll see you at school tomorrow, then!" Okane showed a fake smile, running off out of the courtyard and rounding the right corner and heading down the street. Keitaro's frown disappeared, and he slowly walked to the exit of the courtyard, rounding the right corner instead, walking down behind a group of cultivated trees. He approached a young man with perfectly round, sculpted black hair, with a large tuft of black hair covering most of the left side of his face and extending all the way down to right before his chin. He was wearing a white sweatjacket with orange stripes on the arms, which was open, showing the black t-shirt he wore under, along with wearing baggy jeans.

"I really wish that you wouldn't investigate our clients yourself anymore, Sir," the young man complained, "as well as I wish that you wouldn't lie."

"I didn't lie, you know what I mean by 'my family.'" Keitaro replied.

"I didn't mean that, I meant the past hundred years, taking on a completely fake identity."

"Don't be so concerned, Ren, it's just a new 'hands-on' approach."

"You used to respect me with 'Ichimaku Ren,' but now it's just 'Ren.'"

"I insist on calling you your first name..."

"I just hope you don't get so close to your client that you can't make the contract when he sends a request." Ichimaku Ren kept a stern face, turning around and walking away. Before he was completely out of Keitaro's sight, he turned to face him again. "Soon, someone is going to find out that you are Keisuke, Keitaro, Keimaru, and Keito all in one. Before that happens, we need to find a way to prevent it, Kei, Sir." Ichimaku turned, finally disappearing from sight. Kei sighed, looking at the sky. In the blink of an eye, his eyes had switched from the dark green to a sinister red.

"Vengeance can be such a troublesome thing..."

---

A monitor glowed in the darkness of midnight. A trembling finger rested on the left button of a mouse. On the monitor was a black webpage. At the top, in white text, read simply, 'I shall exact your vengeance.' Below that was a box where words were to be typed, and below that, a button which read, 'Send.' That was where the shaking cursor lay, shaking violently, hanging over the Send button. In the box was the name 'Ahiha Watara.' Sitting at the desk, with his hand trembling on the mouse, was the boy Ahiha Okane. He was a flunkie, and the only friend he had in school was Keitaro, because all the other kids hated him for being the younger brother of the prestigious Ahiha Watara, a boy who was an honor student and had guided most of Okane's peers through their earlier years of school, as a sort of guardian. He was good at most things, and was always amazing in school.

Watara was five years older than Okane, leaving for college two years ago. However, the other years that he had lived in the same residence as Okane, he literally tortured his younger brother. Even when Okane was only five, the ten year-old Watara punched and kicked his brother when he became stressed, or even simply bored, even to the point of knocking his small brother out. A few years later, it was discovered at the hospital that Okane had received a considerable amount of brain damage from the constant beatings, unknown to their parents. Watara even tortured his brother on a phychological level, changing grades on his schoolwork that he brought home so that he wouldn't receive any recognition from their parents for doing well in school. All the while, Okane's older brother still received more gifts, and was always praised by their parents. Because of this, Okane went into an apathetic phase in his life, almost killing himself. After attempting suicide, Watara threatened his little brother about revealing what he had did to him when they were children and even then, as teenagers, saying he would kill him with his bare hands. Okane soon got over his apatheticism, and simply lived as a social outcast.

Okane's hand stopped trembling, and his eyes focused. He had made up his mind. He pressed down on the mouse with his pointer finger, clicking on the Send button. Suddenly, he was standing beneath a dying oak tree, atop a hill, a blood-red sky out on the horizon. Before him stood Kei, wearing a black coloration of his normal blue school uniform. However, over his black school jacket, he wore a black hoodie, with the hood on, to hide his identity from Okane. Beside him stood Ichimaku Ren, in the same clothing as before. "W-What is this? Who are you two?" Okane asked, extremely suprised at what had happened.

"Ren." Kei muttered in a low voice.

"Yes, Sir." Ichimaku Ren replied, kissing a necklace he wore and kneeling down, transforming into a black voodoo doll, which then flew into Okane's hands. Okane caught the doll, and noticed a red string tied around it.

"What's this?" Okane asked.

"If you truely wish to eliminate your antagonist, you must untie that red string. If you remove the string, you shall officially enter a contract with me," Kei informed, "the one you seek revenge upon shall be taken immediately to Hell."

"That means the one that gets taken will disappear from the world, right?"

"Yes. However, if I deliver your revenge, I must have you make restitution to me."

"Restitution?"

"When one person is cursed, two graves are dug. If you accept the contract, thy soul shall fall into the pit of Hell."

"Wait, does that mean I'll go to Hell too when I pull the string?!"

"You will go to Hell too. However, that's after you die."

"Do I have to do it? Do I have to go to Hell?"

"Only once you untie the string, do you enter contract with me. As long as that stays tied, you and your antagonist are unaffected. I will give you some time to consider my contract." With those last words, Okane was then standing in his dark room. He turned to the small clock he had on his bedstand, and the hands showed 12:01 A.M. Once again, the webpage he had just previously accessed was inexistent. He brought the doll to his face, and stared at it.

"I have time...to consider the contract."


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter Two -- Our Real Purpose-

His face pointed towards the ground, standing still in the school's courtyard, almost on the verge of tears, was Onake. This was the first time in his whole time in highschool that Keitaro had been absent without informing Onake, of all people, first. Not only that, but the secretary said that there had been no answer when she had called his house; assuring him that something was seriously wrong. However, that wasn't the reason that he was almost sobbing. The reason was that his brother, Watara, had decided to take a little break from his College student schedule to visit that same day. Onake had seen his brother about three months prior, yet only briefly, where he had reminded him of his threat to kill him. Still not crying, Onake began to shake, as the other students passed by curious, yet too busy with their friends to care. The worst thing was that, without Keitaro there that day with him, Onake had no one to confess his troubles to...making it all the worse.

Across the street to the school, was an unused parking lot. It had parking meters with bent poles, half-pieces of curb blocks, and almost all of the white lines had peeled off. Around the perimeter of the lot were a few benches--that's where Kei was sitting. It was at a far enough distance that students leaving the school couldn't see him clearly, but close enough that he knew exactly who Onake was. Besides, Kei looked nothing like what he had to the students; instead of his navy blue uniform he would always be seen wearing, he had a black variation, with a red t-shirt showing under the open jacket. Along with that, his dark green eyes, noticeable from a considerable distance despite their dark color, were now a blood red. Adding even more to his anonymousity was his hair and skin color. His skin color had been a light tan, where now it was a creamy white, and where his hair, normally being brown, was a now, still untidy, greyish white. This was Kei's first contract proposal in around a year, so he was excited; he wondered what the boy Onake would do when presented with the opportunity. The only thing he disliked about waiting for a decision was being solitary--Ren would have to assume that doll form until the person had definately made up their mind to not use it, or once they had pulled the string.

Onake gathered himself and walked out of the school's gates, noticing a man in black across the street briefly, then taking his route to the right of the school, as usual. He began walking with an unusually slow pace; it was clear that he didn't want to get home too quick. However, he wasn't completely sure whether his brother had arrived home or not yet. If his brother was already there, it would be impossible to get to his room before getting taunted or reminded of his threat. If his brother wasn't there yet, he would be able to get to his room and lock himself inside, securing his solitude until dinner, saving him a couple of beatings. With that chance, Onake put a spring in his step, slowly mimiced by Kei, who was closely following Onake on the other side of the street.

In a few minutes, they had arrived at Onake's house. It was a small, humble white house, complete with a small, elevated drive-way and a garage that was the same white as the house. Onake took a large breath and held it for a few seconds, putting his key in the lock and then exhaling. He turned the key, and entered the house, only to see that face smiling that sinister smile he smiled.

"Welcome home, brother," Watara sneered, "how was school?" Onake's eyes widened, and he was sure that he could feel his heart skip a beat. He had hurried home, only to see his brother already there. Watara had the same green eyes as Onake did, as well as the same color blonde hair, though his was short and combed downwards. Speechless, Onake made a break for the staircase, only to be easily cut-off by his older brother. "Where do you think you are going? It's only you and me here, Mom and Dad are out shopping for tonight's dinner. So, how about we have a little fun instead of you shutting yourself away in your little room?" Watara proposed.

"N-No.." Onake replied, sure of what his opinion was, but unsure of how to respond.

"What did you say to me?" Watara palmed Onake's head in his hand; he easily dwarfed his little brother by at least half a foot, and his hand was big enough to grasp his hand. "Maybe you think we shouldn't have fun? Maybe we should just do this!" Watara formed his opposite hand into a firm fist, and thrusted it into Onake's gut. Onake doubled over on himself, making Watara let go of his head with the sudden lurch, Onake's two arms coming to hold his stomach. He hunched over and coughed a mixture of both blood and saliva onto the hardwood floor.

"You've made a mess, fool. Clean it up or I just might have to punish you." Watara commanded, putting his foot on Onake's head and pushing downwards, slamming his face into the blood, against the the hard floor. "You heard me! Now hurry up!!"

"I-I'm not a little k-kid anymore.." Onake struggled, sitting up on the floor after Watara took his foot off of his head.

"Oh? Because I can still beat you up like you are one!"

"I'm not a kid..and I'm going to make sure that you don't treat me like you did anymore!!" Onake shouted. He was finally decided, finally focused on his goal. He was sure. It would be years before he acatually died. Those years would be alot better without his brother. Onake reached into his left pocket, and pulled out the black doll.

"What is that? Some kind of superstitious doll you're gonna use to hurt me?" Watara laughed.

"Please...just leave!!" Onake tugged on the red string, the knot releasing. The black doll rose from his hands and flew up through the cieling, flying out into the sky and disappearing.

"I hear and deliver this vengeance." Ichimaku Ren's voice reigned over the scene. Where the doll had disappeared, a large olive green eye appeared, staring down at the house.

"Whatever, hurry up and clean!" Watara commanded again, stomping up the stairs and closing the door to his old room. He was startled when he noticed a man sitting on his bed, staring out the window. "Who are you?! Get the hell out of my room!" Watara screamed.

"Hell? It's amazing how lightly you humans use that word nowadays." Ichimaku Ren replied, turning to Watara. In place of Ichimaku Ren's normal face was a large olive green eye, which highly resembled his own, normal eye. Watara yelped, reaching for the doorknob. When he turned to run out the door, the knob was replaced with the same large eye.

"What the--" Watara began, but suddenly, the door was no longer there, and instead, standing in the open doorway, was Kei, dressed in a black suit along with a black tie and black hat.

"Oh, pitiful shadow cloaked in darkness. Thy actions cause men pain and suffering. Thy hollow soul drowns in thy sins." Kei began, showing no emotion in his face as he spoke. Watara began to shake violently, as he had no idea what was going on at all. All of a sudden, Kei changed from his emotionless face to a wide, ear to ear, smile. "How would you like to see what death is like?" Watara opened his mouth to scream as Kei finished, but nothing came out. Suddenly, Watara was lying facedown in a boat, being punched reapeatedly in numerous places by disembodied arms. In the back of the boat was Kei, turning a paddle and ferrying the boat down a river of dark water, small lights on either side of the boat.

"What is this?!" Watara yelled, beginning to bleed from his nose, eyes, and mouth from the punches. Kei did not respond to his question; he was focused on passing under a shrine arch in the middle of the river.

"I shall carry this vengeance to Hell." Kei muttered, the boat fading into the darkness behind the arch. The only thing that could be heard afterwards were the fading screams of Watara's pain.

--- 

It had been a whole month since the 'disappearance' of Onake's brother, and he hadn't seen Keitaro at school since the day he was absent. Despite that, Onake was extremely happy now; he had made more friends because he had no more fear in his life, and he wasn't afraid of being himself anymore. 

Midnight at Onake's public school. Across the street were a pair of two easily noticeable eyes, even in the darkness. Sitting on the same bench was Kei, his blood red eyes easily seeming like they were glowing in the darkness. Beside him sat Ichimaku Ren, smiling. "So, where to next? We can't just sit here month after month; he's not going to die." Ichimaku Ren scratched his head.

"We'll find another person with vengeance in their heart. It won't take long," Kei replied, turning to Ichimaku Ren, "besides, that's our purpose in this world." 


	3. Chapter 3

-Chapter 2.5 -- Hell Meets Girls-

Cocking his head back, Kei stared empty-minded up at the blue sky. A few dangerous looking grey clouds floated by slowly, followed closely by a few pure white replicas. There were no birds flying today, which was strange, considering the extremely fair weather. This town differed ever so slightly from where his most recently client had lived; it was quiet, where most everybody knew everybody else and everyone was financially stable. The only differance between the two was the noticeable feminine overtone; especially in the school. This time, Kei had decided to stay afar from his potential client, watching them in their everyday life, instead of being a part of their everyday life and later having to hide his face from them when proposing the contract.

"I told you Sir, it's my job to investigate. You sit this one out," Ichimaku Ren told Kei, stepping in front of him. They was standing in front of a local library, where their next potential client was reading.

"You just want this client because she is a girl, so I know you won't take no for an answer," Kei replied, clentching his fist, "we can both investigate her, I don't want to be stuck around doing nothing in that boring world of mine.." Ichimaku Ren sighed, running his fingers through his hair stressfully.

"As you wish, Sir," He responded, reluctantly. Just then, a girl opened the door to the library that they were standing in front of. She was about 5'7", with short light brown hair just down to her shoulders with bangs that ended just before her eyes, which were a tinted brown, almost orange. She was wearing a black coat over a white polo shirt, with a matching black and white skirt, obviously not part of a normal school's uniform. She was holding two large sized books in her hands; Kei could only make out the title of one, which was "The History of Voodoo and It's Teachings." The girl looked surprised at Kei's eyes, which were still blood-red, and at his snow-white hair. However, in a matter of seconds, she gathered herself and briskly trotted past the two in silence. Without turning to see her leave or to see if she was listening, Kei began to speak.

"She's the one," Kei stated.

"Are you sure, Sir?" Ichimaku Ren questioned, uncertain of how exactly he knew.

"I saw it in her eyes. All of their eyes are the same as mine."

---

The girl slowly closed the door to her apartment, tossing the two books she had borrowed from the library onto the kitchen table. She opened her refrigirator and let out a long dissatisfied sigh, seeing that there was nothing left for her to eat. She whipped off her black jacket, and plopped down on the couch, staring up at the plain white cieling. An olive green eye was staring at her from the other side of the room, in the corner of the cieling. It blinked twice and disappeared. Ichimaku Ren and Kei were standing together on the roof of a tall building, most likely the same apartment building the girl was in. "It seems that she lives alone. So far, I haven't seen anything irregular," Ichimaku Ren informed Kei, wincing. Kei scratched his white hair, closing his eyes slowly. The sun had almost finished setting, painting the sky a dark red.

"If only you could see them like I can see them," Kei bragged, opening his red eyes back up, "do you at least know her name by now?"

"Kurao Anai," Ichimaku Ren replied.

"Anai? Interesting name..."

"I thought so too, considering she goes to such an average school with average humans."

"Well, we're done for tonight, you can go do whatever you'd like, Ichimaku Ren," Kei frowned, "I'll be back home." Ichimaku Ren nodded, stepping off of the side of the building. Kei's frown remained, with the illusion that it was getting worse by the second. Before Kei began to head back home, he noticed a pair of red glowing objects across a few buildings. Curious, he decided to find out what they were; anything so that he wouldn't have to go home. After getting within a few hundred feet, the red objects began to move away from Kei, which startled him. "What could this be?" He asked himself aloud, picking up his pace to gain on the mysterious red objects. After a bit of chasing, the objects dropped down to ground level, about 12 stories below. Kei followed suit, landing right beside the objects.

That was when he saw it. That was when he saw the girl with red eyes. 


	4. Chapter 4

-Chapter Three -- Hallucination-

"Y-You!" Was all that Kei could manage, his blood red eyes staring back at their glowing counterparts with abnormal interest. That was the only thing that Kei could make out particularly about the person, besides their sillouette in the darkness being the figure of a young woman. "How do you have eyes like that?! The only one that has them i--" Kei was cut off from ending his sentence, his head thumping suddenly with an unbearable pain, like nothing he had ever felt before. He grasped his head in his hands, stumbling around on his feet while groaning in pain, his eyes closed and his face pointed towards the dark ground. Kei opened his eyes as soon as the pain began to quell, looking just in time to catch the girl, now several feet away, winking. At least, that's what he thought she was doing, because one of her glowing eyes blinked out for a moment, and along with that, he heard a distant giggle. Then, as quickly as she had appeared before his eyes, the girl disappeared, leaving Kei speechless and with his head pounding.

---

Anai sat in class, her eyes half closed due to lack of sleep the previous night. She had been up until late reading her books that she had borrowed from the Library. Her class was quiet, since her school had a designated reading period, and her eyes were lazily scanning one of the same books that had caused her insomnia. She was often the gossip-queen of her class, whispering and passing notes to the other girls in the class even during the reading period, usually getting caught and scolded halfway through the class. However, this day was different. She was inspired to read what was in these books, because she had seen something a week ago that she would never forget. As soon as she had turned the page to the last chapter of "The History of Voodoo and It's Teachings", the final bell of the day rang, which meant she would go back to talking to her friends until they had parted ways to walk home.

Loitering outside the main doors of the school, sitting on the steps near the flagpole, was Ichimaku Ren, wearing the same attire as always, but leisurely smoking a cigarette. It wasn't his sort of thing, but he had seen how many packs of cigarettes that Anai had in her apartment and guessed that she was a chainsmoker, leading to the plan of stealing all of her cigarettes the previous night so that she would have an almost uncontrolable craving by the time she was dismissed. Just as he had percieved, as Anai walked by him at the steps conversing and giggling with her friends, she caught the faint smell of the cigarette smoke in the fresh air, and stopped almost on the dot. "Hey, mister pedophile, can I have a smoke?" Anai obliviously asked the man, who turned to her with an unusually annoyed look for Ichimaku Ren.

"First of all, I'm no pedophile, I'm just related to one of the teachers at this school, and I've decided for all of the students to leave before I visit my brother," Ichimaku Ren winced, taking a puff of the cigarette and blowing the smoke in Anai's face disrespectfully. "Second of all, you are pretty cute, so you can have a smoke," Ichimaku Ren handed her a cigarette from his carton and lighting it after she placed it in her mouth. He watched as she took a long and seemingly relieving puff, her knees weakening in a ridiculous nirvana.

"Thanks alot...what's your name, Mr.Teacher's Brother?" Anai asked, taking another long puff, though not showing the broken abstanence symptoms this time.

"My name?" He looked around, as if there were someone else there besides him, but all of the students had left school grounds. "My name is Ichimaku Ren."

"Ichimaku Ren, huh? Some people sure do have wierd names these days."

"You shouldn't be saying that. Like you said, I'm older than you are." Ichimaku Ren smiled, watching as Anai returned the smile, putting the cigarette to her lips and taking a shorter puff this time. All of a sudden, with the third puff, she began to waver and then leaned over and began falling, her eyes closed. Ichimaku put out one arm and caught her securely, taking out and stomping his cigarette with the other. He then used his free arm to put it under her legs, and began to carry her out of the schoolyard.

---

Anai awoke, sitting on the dark floor of an almost completely black room, if not for the single fading yellow of the light bulb above, illuminating just enough so that she could see her own body. There was no bondage applied to her - though she was sure she had been kidnapped in some sort of manner. The last thing she remembered was standing in front of her school with some man, smoking a cigarette. Maybe he had found some way to knock her out from behind while she was smoking? That would work, but she had been facing him and speaking to him the whole time before she fell unconscious.

"Chloroform," came a voice from somewhere in the dark room. Anai was startled, and almost yelped at the sudden interruption of her solitude. "I chloroformed your cigarette," it confirmed, Anai's eyes widening not just from the fact of the chloroform on her cigarette, but also because the voice had come from the complete opposite side of the room the first time, and with the room being of an exceptionable size, it would have been almost impossible for someone to get to the other side that fast without some proof of work in their speech. Suddenly, a large eye appeared in front of Anai's face, nearly a foot length away, causing her to scream in fear and surprise. Without delay, right after her scream, another eye appeared on her left side, making her whole body tremble as she began to sweat in high quantity. "As long as you show fear, your enemies will take advantage and take you by surprise with something that could easily have been avoided," The voice continued, two more eyes appearing in front of Anai. She began to moan and shake at the same time, four more eyes crowding around her in the center of the room. "You should know that best.." The voice insisted, Anai covering her eyes with her hands. More and more eyes began to appear around her, suffocating the room.

"Isn't that right, Ms. Anai?" Kei asked, standing calmly among the multiple eyes. Anai began to giggle, the same giggle that Kei had heard the night before. The light bulb flickered off, and Anai took her hands away from her eyes, allowing their blood red light to illuminate the room along with Kei's, a malevonent smile forming on her face, the eyes fading into the still dark part of the room. "I knew it wouldn't take much persuation." 


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter Four -- The Crimson Plague-

Kei felt something hit his gut and he lurched back slightly, keeping his balance as he glanced at what had hit him with such a terrible force. It was the same hardcover book that he had seen Anai checking out at the library the day before, and it seemed to be very worn out compared to when he had first seen it. He threw it to the ground in frustration, his stomach in unbearable pain, though he wouldn't show it at all. Before he knew it, Kei was having books, pencils, pens, folders, and notebooks thrown full force across the room. He managed to get hit by nothing else excluding the first book, keeping his eyes skillfully locked onto Anai's. "What are you doing this for? I brought you here to talk to you, not to declare war against you via school supplies," Kei told her with a bit of haste in his voice, seeming as though the various objects began to land closer and closer to his strafing body.

"Then why drug me and drag me here? Why not just ask like a normal person?!" Anai responded furiously, discontinuing her throwing of her supplies because there was either no more left or she was too worn out.

"Because, neither of us is normal, and you know that," Kei's haste disappeared as he was given a moment to rest from the bombardment. "The thing you do not know is what you have fallen victim to."

"Victim? What am I victim to?! What exactly did you do to me while I was passed out?!"

"We did nothing. You have begun changing."

"Changing? I'm like I've always been!"

"You've been like this ever since your family died, haven't you? You lose your night life to something else." After Kei said this, Anai froze completely. The bright red glow of her eyes died down to a dim glimmer and tears began to form. Throwing away all of her fear and hatred for this person, Anai flew across the room, flinging herself onto Kei.

"H-Help me.." She began to plead as Kei wrapped his arms around her in response.

"Let me explain what has happened to you," he persuaded her, escorting her over to a far corner of the room with two conveniently placed chairs. "You have fallen victim to something me and my partner like to call 'The Crimson Plague,' " Kei explained, staring at Anai with her head in her hands. He guessed that she was crying, which was confirmed by a low sobbing sound. Kei affentionatally placed his hand on her thigh. "It's a leak in the power of the Devil. His power is only meant for one, the messenger of Hell," he lowered his tone, beginning to talk of himself in third person. Anai's head suddenly shot up from her hands in response to something Kei had said, a look of pure terror on her face.

"The Devil? Hell?! What have I gotten myself into?! What's going on?!" She began to go crazy. Kei, in an attempt to calm her down, grabbed her hand softly, making her slow down her repetitive speech and sit back down.

"Don't worry. You won't be hurt. I, myself, am the messenger of Hell. I've only recently been aware of this...The Crimson Plague can infect anything from Humans and animals to inanimate objects. In fact, my partner, Ichimaku Ren, was a 600 year-old Japanese sword infected with the plague before I refined him and brought him to life," Kei winced, recalling the painful trials he had to endure to do so, "effectively making him my servant. However...I've never seen anything or anyone besides Ichimaku Ren that had been infected...until now."

"So, what does this mean? Does this mean...that I have to go to Hell?!"

"No, not at all. This means something much more. Something I sure that would be special to you."

"W-What?"

"It means that you are immortal."


End file.
